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Definition:
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A device installed at the glacier surface for the measurement, during the ablation season, of changes in elevation of the glacier surface relative to a fixed elevation, such as that of the top of a mass-balance stake embedded in the ice beneath the surface. A star ablatometer is an array of rigid metal arms that can be attached to a stake and levelled. A graduated rod is lowered through holes in the arms to measure changes in the surface elevation, yielding a considerably larger sample than that obtained from readings of the stake alone. Sometimes an ablatometer is actually a sonic ranger.
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